PR Secrets or Common Knowledge?

I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a struggle for me to get through all of Brian Solis’s now well-known article PR Secrets for Startups. It was long, and mostly reiterating information we already learn about in my Public Relations program. But I did note some interesting things he said,

For those who confuse Social Media with online marketing, Social Media is anything that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations between people – it is not the practice of social marketing. I say people, because it humanizes the process of communications when you think about conversations instead of companies marketing at audiences.

On a number of occasions a good friend of mine has told me he thinks social media is just another tool for companies to reach markets and sell things. He calls it hype and a fad that will go away. Admittedly he is a late-adopter and hasn’t used many of these social media tools like Twitter or del.icio.us. I’ve explained to him that social media is one of the best ways for companies to listen to their customers needs and fine-tune their products accordingly. Social media and online marketing are different in this way: social media is two-way whereas online marketing is one-way. This friend studied business with a marketing major which might explain his perspective.

Loic Le Meur responded to Solis’s article by saying it’s rubbish and there aren’t any secrets to PR. I understand his point, but disagree. I think there are ways to master PR and with experience a practitioner would more easily be able to identify strategies and tactics that would work, probably quicker than I could as a PR student.

Le Meur argues against Solis’s Secret #9 Get a Spokesperson by stating the best person to represent a startup is its founder, not a spokesperson. He even cites Mark Zuckerberg as a good example being a “PR machine.” Zuckerberg is neither passionate nor interesting to listen to. I’m sure there are many instances that the founder would be the best spokesperson, but there are also many occasions it would better be left in the hands of a pro.  I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule for selecting the best spokesperson, each case will be different.